Top positive review

4.0 out of 5 starsPuts a fresh breath of life into old and new systems

ByVManon 2 May 2015

I chose this SSD because it was rated very highly by quite a few review sites. It came in a nice premium package with the Samsung Magician software.I cloned my hard drive OS install onto it and booted into it just fine without any problems. I did have to do a check to make sure Windows recognised it as an SSD and enabled TRIM and disabled Defragmenting.

Another thing to note is you should have the partition 1MB aligned for faster read and write speeds. If you download AS-SSD and run it, it shows the alignment of the drive and if it's correct it'll show it in green saying something like Alignment: 1024KB

Speaking of AS-SSD the speeds are blisteringly fast! From boot to Windows was about 20 seconds. You can also enable RAPID mode from the Samsung Magician software where it caches frequently used software/data in RAM for you to speed up the system even more. However you need a spare bit of RAM to do so, and it only works on one SSD. So any RAID setups won't be eligible for that feature.

Now for the downside...

The original firmware has a flaw where it causes a slowdown due to not having the data refreshed on the disk, which causes reads/writes to slow down over time. Samsung recently released another firmware update that should reduce the issue and for most users it won't be a noticeable effect. However having such a flaw in the drive does make you think twice about choosing them. For their next range of drives, they'll have to offer something way above the others, either in terms of price or in speed to win the support of annoyed customers.

Top critical review

I liked this SSD until it completely failed after only 2.5 years of use. Used it to store my digital photo library on my laptop. Luckily I also use a NAS box to back up the data, but am now very wary of a device that failed with no warning. I have an identical model in the same laptop running the operating system, it is still working fine. I am now cloning the remaining disk on a regular basis, so that I do not lose the laptop as well. (The close is on to a regular hard disk as I no longer trust the SSD format. Not sure if it is related but the Samsung Magician software prompted me to update it just before the disk failed. When I finished the update I ran the Magician software and it reported that both disks were healthy. Shortly after this the SSD failed.

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I chose this SSD because it was rated very highly by quite a few review sites. It came in a nice premium package with the Samsung Magician software.I cloned my hard drive OS install onto it and booted into it just fine without any problems. I did have to do a check to make sure Windows recognised it as an SSD and enabled TRIM and disabled Defragmenting.

Another thing to note is you should have the partition 1MB aligned for faster read and write speeds. If you download AS-SSD and run it, it shows the alignment of the drive and if it's correct it'll show it in green saying something like Alignment: 1024KB

Speaking of AS-SSD the speeds are blisteringly fast! From boot to Windows was about 20 seconds. You can also enable RAPID mode from the Samsung Magician software where it caches frequently used software/data in RAM for you to speed up the system even more. However you need a spare bit of RAM to do so, and it only works on one SSD. So any RAID setups won't be eligible for that feature.

Now for the downside...

The original firmware has a flaw where it causes a slowdown due to not having the data refreshed on the disk, which causes reads/writes to slow down over time. Samsung recently released another firmware update that should reduce the issue and for most users it won't be a noticeable effect. However having such a flaw in the drive does make you think twice about choosing them. For their next range of drives, they'll have to offer something way above the others, either in terms of price or in speed to win the support of annoyed customers.

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I did a lot of research on SSDs before buying this Samsung. I wanted a brand I could trust with my data, so decided on the EVO. I have had this drive now for about 14 months now, so decided this would be the time to write a brief review. I cannot fault the performance and overall am very pleased with they way it has performed. I have had no errors or issues at all. I use a dual boot system using the Samsung SSD for Windows 8.1 (and now Windows 10 after an in-place upgrade) and another standard SATA III drive for Windows 7. The Samsung Magician software allows you to tweak the performance and tune the drive for increased performance or enhanced reliability or a balance of both as well as other options such as RAPID mode etc. Samsung provide firmware and software updates to ensure that the drive is kept updated as needed. I have no hesitation in recommending this drive and would certainly choose this brand again.

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I'm getting consistent 492/500 MB per second read/writes from this with response times in the very very low milliseconds , I hope it stays stable, as I've been rather crazy and also bought the 1 TB capacity for my primary drive.

As a direct result of this insanity my system boots from from completely off fully in 4.7 seconds [win 8.1 64 bit,I7 4770k/16 GB DDR3] over provisioning and RAPID are enabled and the primary drive is set to maximum performance.

This 120 GB drive is my secondary drive and compares well to the slightly faster 1 TB Model EVO for speed.

The Samsung magician software sort of 'hoovers up' your files and the OS! from your old existing hard drive and then puts them on your ssd when you then cold swap them.

Be aware some computers will not like this if the oem pre-installed OS is on a protected or encrypted partition (and especially if the licence number for the os is in the actual computer bios)

I would advise to be guarded if you do not have a full version of an os disk, full backups of valuable files; and to try and learn all about your bios settings before you embark on the transition from HDD to SSD.

It may be a very painless smooth and easy transition for some models of computer but there are certain manufacturers who do not allow you to boot your os from anything but the drive they originally put in your machine - so in those circumstances unless you can literally rewrite/flash the bios or change the motherboard completely,things would be very frustrating, pronto.

Bear in mind where certain manufacturers supply a pre-installed HDD only version of your os, another *mechanical* HDD may not be allowed to boot,so it wouldn't be an SSD only issue.

For a new system build these are very nice and take little current and are up and running almost immediatley - remember to connect to sata 3 with the correct cables - I seldom spot them getting hotter than 40c

I used this > http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005UA3I72/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1alongside the data migration software provided with zero issues, you could try your own preferred method or buy the kit version.

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I purchased a 250GB version for my wifes laptop (£110). As she's a teacher I did not want to risk installing the drive into her machine and it fail in the first week or so and risk losing data and getting an unnecessary grief. I'll look to test the drive for a month or so before installing the drive in her HP G72.

I decided to test the drive in my 3 year old Sony Vaio. I initially tried to use the Samsung migration tool but I was not very successfull and internet searches resulted in lots of people complaining about various issues. I therefore decided to go for a new build. I downloaded the Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft together with a bootable USB utility from them. I installed Windows 7 from a USB key - no issues but I had previously updated my BIOS to look for the USB device in the boot order. The laptop then installed various fixes in the background but these were not too intrusive. It taken about 8 or so reboots to get the various fixes installed/configured.

Sony install a considerable amount of bloatware onto their machines. The advantage of clean build is that all of this gets removed and you can enable only what you need or want. If there is anything that you need you simply go to manfacturer website and download what you need. I did need to get the graphics and network drivers as the default Windows 7 software did not work too well. The other issue to be aware of is if you install from fresh then a complete laptop build will take time and you will need to source all of your application software. Every application I install gets saved to a special download directory that I archive so I always have access to at least 1 version of my software. It's a good habit to get into.

Another advantage of SSD's is that as there are no moving parts the drives generate considerably less heat (you can feel the difference out of the vents) and battery times also increase. My laptop runs much cooler and quieter now (less use of internal fan).

I also purchased a internal hard disk caddy so I have a second 500GB conventional disk inside the laptop. My Blu-ray drive now connects via an external USB connection to the laptop. I hardly use this so this was not an issue for me.

I've removed the windows logon prompt as I wanted to test the boot time. My laptop now boots straight into windows in about 18 seconds. I can then click on IExplorer and connect to a website immediately. If my laptop goes to sleep, the wake up time is less than a second.

An SSD upgrade in my opinion is highly recommended, will extend the life of your laptop and save you money.

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I liked this SSD until it completely failed after only 2.5 years of use. Used it to store my digital photo library on my laptop. Luckily I also use a NAS box to back up the data, but am now very wary of a device that failed with no warning. I have an identical model in the same laptop running the operating system, it is still working fine. I am now cloning the remaining disk on a regular basis, so that I do not lose the laptop as well. (The close is on to a regular hard disk as I no longer trust the SSD format. Not sure if it is related but the Samsung Magician software prompted me to update it just before the disk failed. When I finished the update I ran the Magician software and it reported that both disks were healthy. Shortly after this the SSD failed.

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Very good replacement drive, excellent for the cost £226.98, no problem with installation or usage, drive passed all tests I could throw at it as an IT Pro.

Smooth OS installation from 3.5" SATA Drive on to this SSD, I used the Samsung Data Migration Wizard, that worked a treat, altough you may choose to do this with whatever Migration System you have, EaseUs, Acronis, etc.The OS startup suddenly increase brilliantly fast, no problerm with the first time boot or any other bootup.For the Price £226.98, this being a 1TB drive, it's been excellent value for money, I would definetly be happy to get another one, In fact I just may do that ^_^Yashima

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Incredibly fast drive and software is fantastic that helps you easily recreate your old hard disk to this one. It worked very well. My old hard disk was a 500gb version though, and that's fine if it's bigger than this, but just make sure you delete unwanted files to make your older disk take less space than 250gb before you try to copy. Overall quick and easy to install it. Just realise that this version at this price/version is barebones with no fittings with it, so you need separate fittings if you run a regular compiter with a regular 3inch drive. Pay a bit more if you want the full boxed version with all fittings and screws if this is for an old desktop and not a laptop. Amazon sells that version too for an extra ten pounds or so if barebones is not good enough for you. My computer with lots of startup program's running windows 7 now boots in 30 seconds now instead of 3+ minutes before.

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Amazing, just buy one, you won't be disappointed. These will speed up especially a modern machine no end. I have one in my Samsung all in one and is tons faster than the old hard drive. I now use the old hard drive as a storage drive in an external USB caddy. I used the copying software but it didn't seem to boot up amazingly well and took quite a while to shut Windows down so ended up performing a clean install and it's amazing.

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I upgrade and service laptops in my spare time and always find myself coming back to these Samsung EVO SSD's.

Reliable drives, great product support and easily obtained drivers for all the OS's you could possibly imagine. That combined with fantastic benchmarking speeds I simply don't fit any other drive.

The bundled software is great for optimising new systems and the magic software makes transferring data a doddle - even for an amateur.

I normally combine this with a Tecknet 2.5" external USB 3.0 caddy from here to carry out the transfer without having to use another PC and then use the old drive as an external backup hard drive - works great every time!

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Believe the SSD hype. I the 250GB model installed alongside my two 1TB hard disks, and boot both Windows and Linux off it. Both OS's can boot in less than 10 seconds now, which is just mindblowing. In the past I've had enough time to go and get a drink while booting my PC, now, not so much.

For the price, Samsung have priced this drive very competitively, and it's absolutely worth the money if you value your time. Of course, with it being a solid state drive, it doesn't make any noise at all, and it's not susceptible to being dropped like a traditional hard drive. It doesn't even care if you mount it upside down (mine sits attached to the inside of my PC's side panel because there was nowhere else to easily put it).